Felonizing shoplifting

Roxxsmom

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So there's a proposition on the CA ballot to make shoplifting a felony in some cases. This means harsher penalties, of course, and longer prison terms. I've wondered who, besides the prison lobby obviously, would want this. The answer is retailers, who lose increasing amounts of money to shoplifters. Evidently the frequency of shoplifting has increased while the prosecution of shoplifters has gone down in general.

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/16/9238...ailers-back-harsher-penalties-for-store-theft

I sympathize with their situation, having had chats with some of our local grocery clerks about the increasing boldness of shoplifters and their helplessness to do anything about it (they are not allowed to apprehend shoplifters, and store security guards are generally limited).

But I also recall a body of research that suggests that the penalty for a crime is less of a deterrent than a high likelihood of being caught to begin with, so felonizing shoplifting doesn't seem like it will accomplish much besides incarcerating more people (thus costing the taxpayers more money) and increasing the already gaping disparities in sentencing between more affluent white folks and poorer people and people of color in particular. Somehow I suspect white, suburban teens who steal lipsticks, or even booze, won't be prosecuted as felons, but a poor mother who steals baby formula might be.

The National Retail Federation's 2020 security survey found that shoplifting apprehensions and prosecutions have fallen dramatically since 2015. Meanwhile, the average loss per each shoplifting incident declined only slightly to $270. According to the Insurance Information Institute, most insurance policies do not cover shoplifting but can cover burglaries.

Something major is getting lost in all of this, says Pew's Jake Horowitz. If the goal is to deter crime, tougher punishment is actually not the best approach.

"This may surprise some folks, but it's one of the least controversial ideas among people who study crime," Horowitz says. More severe punishments are expensive, costing taxpayers, but he says severity is "essentially meaningless" compared with the most important factor: certainty of punishment.

How about spending more money on the underlying causes behind shoplifting, which are (aside from adolescent impulse control issues) mostly poverty, drug addiction, and mental disorders.